NAMES ANALYSIS REPORT Mendes Surname Meaning & Origin
The name Mendes is of Portuguese origin.
The English meaning of Mendes is Son of Mendo
The surname Mendes is a patronymic name, which means that it is derived from a man's
given name, usually a father , paternal ancestor or patron.
There are many indicators that the name Mendes may be of Jewish origin, emanating from
the Jewish communities of Spain and Portugal.
When the Romans conquered the Jewish nation in 70 CE, much of the Jewish population
was sent into exile throughout the Roman Empire. Many were sent to the Iberian
Peninsula. The approximately 750,000 Jews living in Spain in the year 1492 were
banished from the country by royal decree of Ferdinand and Isabella. The Jews of
Portugal, were banished several years later. Reprieve from the banishment decrees was
promised to those Jews who converted to Catholicism. Though some converted by choice,
most of these New-Christian converts were called CONVERSOS or MARRANOS (a
derogatory term for converts meaning pigs in Spanish), ANUSIM (meaning "coerced ones"
in Hebrew) and CRYPTO-JEWS, as they secretly continued to practice the tenets of the
Jewish faith.
Our research has found that the family name Mendes is cited with respect to Jews &
Crypto-Jews in at least 92 bibliographical, documentary, or electronic references:
- Sources 1 - 10 for Mendes
From the records of Bevis Marks, The
Spanish and Portuguese Congregation of
London |
Bevis Marks is the Sephardic synagogue in London. It is over 300 years old and is the
oldest still in use in Britain.The Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of London
has published several volumes of its records: they can be found in libraries such as the
Cambridge University Library or the London Metropolitan Archive
From the burial register of Bethahaim
Velho Cemetery, Published by the Jewish
Historical Society of England and
transcribed by R. D. Barnett. |
The register gives us dates for the burials in the "Bethahaim Velho" or Old Cemetery. The
dates are listed as per the Jewish calendar.
History of the Jews in Venice, by Cecil
Roth |
In this work, Cecil Roth covers the long course of Italian-Jewish history extending from preChristian times, comprising in a degree every facet of the evolution of Jewish life in
Europe. Contains a huge store of facts tracing regional variations over a period of 2000
years.
Finding Our Fathers | A Guidebook to
Jewish Genealogy, by Dan Rottenberg
In this work Dan Rottenberg shows how to do a successful search for probing the
memories of living relatives, by examining marriage licenses, gravestones, ship passenger
lists, naturalization records, birth and death certificates, and other public documents, and
by looking for clues in family traditions and customs. Supplementing the "how to"
instructions is a guide to some 8,000 Jewish family names, giving the origins of the names,
sources of information about each family, and the names of related families whose
histories have been recorded. Other features included a country-by-country guide to tracing
Jewish ancestors abroad, a list of Jewish family history books, and a guide to researching
genealogy.
A History of the Marranos, by Cecil Roth.
|
The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 by the infamous decree of King Ferdinand
and Queen Isabella was the culmination of a series of anti-Jewish persecutions throughout
the 14th and 15th centuries in which thousands of Jews were massacred. Thousands of
others converted in order to escape death. After the expulsion many more joined the ranks
of these "new Christians" as an alternative to exile. A large number of converts, while
outwardly professing Christianity, secretly continued to practice Judaism. These Marranos,
as they were popularly known, were then mercilessly persecuted by the dreaded
Inquisition which through tortures of forced confessions and auto-da-fes sent thousands to
the stake. Many others managed to escape to countries outside the reach of the Inquisition
where they created a widespread Marrano diaspora. Thousands of Marranos have
survived even into our times. This seminal work by the eminent historian traces the
tribulation of these secret Judaizers as well as the fate of those who succeeded in
escaping to other lands where many of them rose to prominence in various fields of
endeavor.
Jews in Colonial Brazil, by Arnold
Wiznitzer |
Professor Wiznitzer gathered detailed information about individual Jewish settlers in
colonial Brazil and about cases where they were brought before the Inquisition at Lisbon,
and his study throws new light on some phases of Brazilian colonial history. Many Jews
fled to Brazil and others were deported to the colony as convicted heretics after the King of
Portugal attemtped to compel all of his Jewish subjects to accept Christianity in 1497.They
were active in the establishment of the sugar industry and in trade, and they maintained
close relations with another large group of exiles who had taken refuge in Amsterdam.Most
of the "new Christians" continued to practice the old religion secretly.
The Jews of the Balkans, The JudeoSpanish Community , 15th to 20th
Centuries, by Esther Benbassa and Aron
Rodrigue |
This volume is a history of the Sephardi diaspora in the Balkans. The two principal axes of
the study are the formation and features of the Judeo-Spanish culture area in SouthEastern Europe and around the Aegean littoral, and the disintegration of this community in
the modern period. The great majority of the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 eventually
went to the Ottoman Empire. With their command of Western trades and skills, they
represented a new economic force in the Levant. In the Ottoman Balkans, the Jews came
to reconstitute the bases of their existence in the semi-autonomous spheres allowed to
them by their new rulers. This segment of the Jewish diaspora came to form a certain unity,
based on a commonality of the Judeo-Spanish language, culture and communal life. The
changing geopolitics of the Balkans and the growth of European influence in the 19th
century inaugurated a period of westernization. European influence manifested itself in the
realm of education, especially in the French education, dispensed in the schools of the
Alliance Israelite Universelle with its headquarters in Paris. Other European cultures and
languages came to the scene through similar means. Cultural movements such as the
Jewish Enlightenment (haskalah) also came to exert a distinct influence, hence building
bridges between the Ashkenazi and Sephardi worlds
Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation, by
Miriam Bodian |
This work explores why the Portuguese Jews of northern Europe never established a solid
sense of belonging to the wider Sephardi diaspora. It explores how, historically, the
Conversos lost the consciousness of being “Sephardi” in the generations
after the expulsion from Spain and the mass baptism of Portugal’s Jews in 1497. To
be sure, once the Portuguese ex-Conversos organized in Jewish communities, their
leaders made efforts to reconnect with the wider Sephardi world, and these efforts had
serious symbolic and strategic value. But the Portuguese Jews’ rootedness in the
Converso experience meant that their core sense of collective self remained distinct.
Contributing factors to their enduring sense of distinctness were these aspects of Converso
experience: the absorption of Catholic notions of piety; the “de-rabbinization”
of crypto-Jewish belief; and the difficulty for many Conversos of maintaining any stable set
of traditional beliefs. The outward image their leaders sought to cultivate may have been
one of Sephardi traditionalism, but, at an emotional level, members of these communities
continued to regard themselves as members of the
“nação”—a term that evoked the Converso past.
The Sephardim of England, by Albert M.
Hyamson |
A history of the Spanish & Portugese Jewish Community, 1492-1951.
Crisis and Creativity in the Sephardic
World | 1391-1648,edited by Gampel.
This book explores antecedents,causes, mechanics and aftermath of the 1492 expulsion
from Spain and lists Sephardic movers and shakers during the period.
+ Sources 11 - 20 for Mendes
Secrecy and Deceit | The Religion of the
Crypto-Jews, by David Gitlitz
Despite the increased attention given to Hispano-Jewish topics, and the "conversos" or
Crypto-Jews in particular, this is the first thorough compilation of their customs and
practices. The author has culled from Inquisition documents and other sources to paint a
portrait of the richness and diversity of Crypto-Jewish practices in Spain, Portugal, and the
New World. The history of Spanish Jews, or Sephardim, stretches back to biblical times.
The Jews of Spain and Portugal made formative contributions to all Hispanic cultures, the
impact of which is first being measured and recognized today. The Sephardim experienced
a Golden Age in Iberia between 900-1100, during which they acted as the intermediaries
between the rival political and cultural worlds of Islam and Christianity. This Golden Age
ended with the Reconquest of Spain by Catholic overlords, though for another 300 years
the Jews continued to contribute to Iberian life. In 1391 and again in 1492, intense and
violent social pressures were put upon the Jews to join the larger Christian community.
Many Jews converted, often unwillingly. In 1492 the remaining Jews were exiled from
Spain. The converted Jews (Conversos) became an underclass in Spanish society. Many
of them clung tenaciously to Jewish practices in the face of torture and death at the hands
of the Inquisition. Having lost contact with other Jews, these people developed a religion
which was an admixture of Catholic and Jewish rituals. David Gitlitz examines these
practices in detail and attempts to answer the question of whether the Conversos were in
fact Jewish. Gitlitz's research is exhaustive. He has combed through thousands of
Inquistion records, showing that a sense of "Jewishness" if not Jewish practice remained a
core value of many Spaniards' lives well into the 1700s. Gitlitz is convincing in showing
that the Inquisition unwittingly aided crypto-Jews in perpetuating themselves by publishing
Edicts of Faith. Essentially checklists for informers, they described the behavior of
"Judaizers" (sometimes the practices listed were absurd or simply erroneous). These,
ironically, were used by Judaizers as guides to religious behavior. It is revealing that as the
Inquisition faded, crypto-Judaism waned, though never totally vanished. Gitlitz's
knowledge and research on the subject is encyclopedic. The book is written in a "textbook"
style which makes it somewhat technical and dry, though it is enlivened by excerpts from
Inquisition records, which Gitlitz has apparently chosen for their interest, irony, unintended
comedy, or spiritedness. It is difficult to imagine that human beings would face the tortures
of the rack for not eating pork. That these same tortured people could summon the will to
laugh at their executioners is something wondrous. The book includes the names of the
Sephardim (and sometimes their residences too).
The Jews of Jamaica, by Richard D.
Barnett and Philip Wright.Oron Yoffe,
Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem, 1997. |
The product of many years of painstaking research by two late scholars, Richard D. Barnett
and Philip Wright, this volume presents the texts or summaries of 1456 tombstone
inscriptions of Jews who lived in Jamaica between 1663, when the British ousted the
Spanish, and 1880, when systematic registration of deaths was introduced. Jewish families
who had fled the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal settled in Jamaica in increasing
numbers during that time. Ashkenazic Jews also settled there in the eighteenth century.
The Jews played a significant part in developing the island's natural resources and its
international trade. Featuring detailed indexes by name, date and language, The Jews of
Jamaica is a valuable tool for the study of immigration to the Americas, the surnames,
given names and genealogy of Sephardi Jews. The texts of the inscriptions, many of them
in three languages (Hebrew, English and Portuguese or Spanish), are of cultural interest
and sometimes refer to dramatic events in the lives of the Jewish residents of Jamaica
during a turbulent period.
Die Sefarden in Hamburg (The Sephardim
in Hamburg) by Michael StudemundHalevy. |
The Sephardic community of Hamburg was founded by Portuguese conversos who had
settled in the Hamburg area during the three decades prior to 1611.
Judios Conversos (Jewish Converts) by
Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires,
1990. The ancestors of the Argentinian
Jewish families. |
This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and
Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of
the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later
converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of
Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.
Judios Conversos(Jewish Converts) by
Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires,
1990. The ancestors of Argentinian
Jewish families. List of Portuguese Jews
expelled from Buenos Aires, 1603. |
This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and
Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of
the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later
converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of
Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.
Sangre Judia (Jewish Blood) by Pere
Bonnin. Flor de Viento, Barcelona, 2006.
A list of 3,500 names used by Jews, or
assigned to Jews by the Holy Office (la
Santo Oficio) of Spain. The list is a result
of a census of Jewish communities of
Spain by the Catholic Church and as
found in Inquisition records. |
Pere Bonnin, a philosopher, journalist and writer from Sa Pobla (Mallorca), a descendant
of converted Jews, settles with this work a debt "owed to his ancestors", in his own words.
The book, written in a personal and accessible style and based on numerous sources,
includes a review of basic Jewish concepts, Jewish history in Spain, and Christian AntiSemitism. There is also a section that focuses on the reconciliation between the Church
and Monarchy and the Jews, which took place in the 20th Century. In this study, Bonnin
deals in depth with the issue of surnames of Jewish origin. In the prologue, the author
explains the rules he followed in the phonetic transcription of surnames of Hebrew origin
that are mentioned in the book. The researcher cites the Jewish origin, sometimes
recognized and other times controversial, of historically prominent figures (like Cristobal
Colon, Hernan Cortes, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and many others) and links
Colon, Hernan Cortes, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and many others) and links
between surnames of Jewish origin with some concepts in Judaism.. The book also
includes an appendix with more than three thousands surnames "suspected" of being
Jewish, because they appear in censuses of the Jewish communities and on the
Inquisitorial lists of suspected practitioners of Judaism, as well as in other sources. In the
chapter "Una historia de desencuentro", the author elaborates on surnames of Jewish
origin of the royalty, nobility, artistocracy, clergy, and also of writers, educators and
university teachers during the Inquisition. Special attention is given to the "Chuetas" of
Mallorca, the birthplace of the author.
Raizes Judaicas No Brasil,(Jewish Roots
in Brazil) by Flavio Mendes de Carvalho. |
This book contains names of New Christians or Brazilians living in Brazil condemned by
the Inquisition in the 17th and 18th centuries, as taken from the archives of Torre do Tombo
in Lisbon. Many times details including date of birth, occupation, name of parents, age, and
location of domicile are also included. The list also includes the names of the relatives of
the victims. There are several cases in which many members of the same family were
tortured and sentenced so some family lines may end here.
Sephardic names from the magazine
"ETSI". Most of the names are from (but
not limited to) France and North Africa.
Published by Laurence Abensur-Hazan
and Philip Abensur. |
ETSI (a Paris-based, bilingual French-English periodical) is devoted exclusively to
Sephardic genealogy and is published by the Sephardi Genealogical and Historical
Society (SGHS). It was founded by Dr. Philip Abensur, and his professional genealogist
wife, Laurence Abensur-Hazan. ETSI's worldwide base of authors publish articles
identifying a broad spectrum of archival material of importance to the Sephardic
genealogist. A useful feature of ETSI is the listing, on the back cover, of all Sephardic
family names, and places of origin, cited in the articles contained in each issue
From the civil records of Amsterdam, The
Netherlands |
The Amsterdam Municipal Archives possess a complete set of registers of intended
marriages from 1578 to 1811, the year when the present Civil Registry was started.
Between 1598 and 1811, 15238 Jewish couples were entered in these books. Both the
number of records and the volume of data that may be extracted from them are
unprecedented.
Noble Families Among The Sephardic
Jews, by Isaac Da Costa, Bertram
Brewster, and Cecil Roth. |
This book provides genealogy information about many of the more famous Sephardic
families of Iberia, England and Amsterdam. It documents the assimilation, name changes
and conversion of many Sephardic families in Spain, England and The Netherlands. There
is a large section dealing with the genealogy of the members of Capadose and Silva
families in Spain and Portugal. This reference includes genealogical tables and a
translation of Da Costa’s 1850 work "Israel and the Gentiles", with chapters by
Bertram Brewster on the Capadose conversion to Christianity and by Cecil Roth on their
Jewish history.
+ Sources 21 - 30 for Mendes
A Origem Judaica dos Brasileiros (The
Origin of The Brazilian Jews), by Jose
Geraldo Rodrigues de Alckmin Filho |
This publication contains a list of 517 Sephardic families punished by the inquisition in
Portugal and Brazil.
The Circumcision Register of Isaac and
Abraham De Paiba (1715-1775) from the
Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese
Jews' Congregation of Bevis Marks
(London. England). |
This register is from the manuscript record preserved in the Archives of the Spanish and
Portuguese Jews' Congregation of London named "Sahar Asamaim" transcribed,
translated and edited by the late R.D. Barnett, with the assistance of Alan Rose, I.D. Duque
and others; There is also a supplement with a record of circumcisions 1679-1699,
marriages 1679-1689 and some female births 1679-1699, compiled by Miriam Rodrigues-
Pereira. The register includes surnames of those circumsized as well as the names of their
Godfathers & Godmothers.
The Circumcision Register of Isaac and
Abraham De Paiba (1715-1775) from the
Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese
Jews' Congregation of Bevis
Marks(London. England). |
The circumcision register of Isaac and Abraham de Paiba (1715-1775): from the
manuscript record preserved in the Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews'
Congregation of London named "Sahar Asamaim" transcribed, translated and edited by
the late R.D. Barnett, with the assistance of Alan Rose, I.D. Duque and others; There is
also a supplement with a record of circumcisions 1679-1699, marriages 1679-1689 and
some female births 1679-1699, compiled by Miriam Rodrigues-Pereira. The register
includes surnames of those circumsized as well as the names of their Godfathers &
Godmothers.
The Circumcision Register of Isaac and
Abraham De Paiba (1715-1775) from the
Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese
Jews' Congregation of Bevis Marks
(London. England). |
The circumcision register of Isaac and Abraham de Paiba (1715-1775): from the
manuscript record preserved in the Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews'
Congregation of London named "Sahar Asamaim" transcribed, translated and edited by
the late R.D. Barnett, with the assistance of Alan Rose, I.D. Duque and others; There is
also a supplement with a record of circumcisions 1679-1699, marriages 1679-1689 and
some female births 1679-1699, compiled by Miriam Rodrigues-Pereira. The register
includes surnames of those circumsized as well as the names of their Godfathers &
Godmothers.
The Circumcision Register of Isaac and
Abraham De Paiba (1715-1775) from the
Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese
Jews Congregation of Bevis Marks
(London  England). |
The circumcision register of Isaac and Abraham de Paiba (1715-1775): from the
manuscript record preserved in the Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews'
Congregation of London named "Sahar Asamaim" transcribed, translated and edited by
the late R.D. Barnett, with the assistance of Alan Rose, I.D. Duque and others; There is
also a supplement with a record of circumcisions 1679-1699, marriages 1679-1689 and
some female births 1679-1699, compiled by Miriam Rodrigues-Pereira. The register
includes surnames of those circumsized as well as the names of their Godfathers &
Godmothers.
ETSI, Volume 4, No.12 dated March 2001,
"Aliases in Amsterdam", by Viberke
Sealtiel-Olsen, a list of alias names used
by Sephardim in Amsterdam. True
Sephardic Name=Alias Name |
When the Conversos fled Portugal to settle in Amsterdam they returned openly to Judaism.
Because they often still had relatives in Portugal, they tried to protect them by using aliases
in their transactions. However, it wasn’t only the Portuguese who wound up in Amsterdam.
Even a century after 1492, conversos were finding their way from Spain to Amsterdam.
Listing a person as a Portuguese merchant generally meant he was Jewish. Their family
contacts worldwide, along with their language skills, were great commercial assets in their
farflung business ventures. And in their contacts with family back home, they had to be
discreet as to not bring suspicion on relatives left behind This work is a wonderful research
tool for Sephardic research in Amsterdam.
ETSI, Volume 4, No.12 dated March 2001,
"Aliases in Amsterdam", by Viberke
Sealtiel-Olsen, a list of alias names used
by Sephardim in Amsterdam. Alias
Name=True Sephardic Name |
When the Conversos fled Portugal to settle in Amsterdam they returned openly to Judaism.
Because they often still had relatives in Portugal, they tried to protect them by using aliases
in their transactions. However, it wasn’t only the Portuguese who wound up in Amsterdam.
Even a century after 1492, conversos were finding their way from Spain to Amsterdam.
Listing a person as a Portuguese merchant generally meant he was Jewish. Their family
contacts worldwide, along with their language skills, were great commercial assets in their
farflung business ventures. And in their contacts with family back home, they had to be
discreet as to not bring suspicion on relatives left behind This work is a wonderful research
tool for Sephardic research in Amsterdam.
Ruth Reyes, "Sephardic Family Names
from Puerto Rico", The Casa Shalom
Journal, Volume 10, Published by The
Institute for Marrano-Anusim Studies,
Gan Yavneh, Israel 2008 |
This list is compiled from a catalogue the author found on a visit to Puerto Rico in the
Museum of San Juan.
Studies on Turkish-Jewish History |
Political and Social Relations, Literature
and Linguistics, by David Altabe, Erhan
Atay and Israel J. KatzSepher Hermon
Press, Brooklyn,New York, 1996
In the decade following the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, and during the
generation following the forced baptism of the Jews in Portugal in 1498 (many of them
Spanish refugees), Sephardim migrated eastward to the Ottoman Empire and were
encouraged to settle in those areas devoid of Jews. A vibrant renaissance of Jewish
creativity was intimately linked with the fate and fortune of the Ottoman realm that
welcomed them.
Antonio Borges Coelho, Inquisicao de
Evora. Dos primordios a 1668 (Inquisition
of Evora | From the beginning to 1668) vol. 1, Lisbon, 1987
The Portuguese Inquisition was born legally in Evora in the year 1536, legitimized by the
Pope, sponsored by King John III, Cardinal Alfonso and future cardinal and Inquisitor
General D. Henry.
+ Sources 31 - 40 for Mendes
Ishack and Mathatia de Ishack Aboab,
"Livro e Notas de Ydades Reduzido por
my Ishack Aboab e Copiado por my
Mathatia do Senhor Ishak Aboab" (Books
and Notes by Yitzhak Aboab), in Boletim
Internacional de Bibliografia LusoBrasileira 2o, Lisbon, 1961 |
This article,published by I.S. Revah, is based on the Aboab family genealogy in
Amsterdam. The author writes about the relation between the Jewish family and their
relatives that stayed Christians.
Laurence Abensur-Hazan. Genealogical
Review & Sephardic History, Paris, 1997. |
The author is a founder and current President of Etsi ("my tree" in Hebrew), the Sephardi
Historical and Genealogical Society based in Paris. A graduate notary and lawyer, she is
currently a professional genealogist in Paris. She works on the French naturalization of
Jews from the Ottoman Empire and on the Alliance Israelite Universelle Archives.
Antonio Alberto Banha de Andrade.
Judeus em Montemor-o-Novo,(Jews in
Montemor-o-Novo) Portugal, Academia
Portuguesa de História, 1977. |
Jewish settlement in the area began prior to Portugal's emergence as a nation. A tradition
among the Sephardi Jews ascribes their arrival in Iberia to Roman times, in the wake of the
destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. and subsequent dispersion toward Europe. The
existence of a significant Jewish settlement on the peninsula by 300 C.E. is apparent from
the edicts of Elvira which proscribe "taking food with the Jews" and single out the Jewish
group in a number of dicta. James Finn endeavored to make a case for dating the initial
Jewish involvement in the area as early as 900 B.C.E., based on reports of two ancient
Hebrew inscriptions, one mentioning Amaziah, King of Judah, and a second marking the
grave of King Solomon's treasurer, Adoniram. When Portugal emerged as a distinct
national entity under Affonso (Henriques) I ( 1139-85), a number of Jewish centers existed,
including a commu nity in Montemor-o-Novo. The author of this work, Antonio Alberto
Banha de Andrade, was born in 1915 in Montemor-o-Novo and was a renowned
Portuguese historian and teacher who did important work in the fields of religious history,
education and culture.
Antonio Pimenta de Castro. The
Marranos of Vilarinho dos Galegos,
Portugal, Apr/Jun 1996. |
Historian Antonio Pimenta de Castro explores the subject of the Crypto-Jews in the
riverside village of Vilarinho dos Gallegos (Portugal), which is well known for once having
a strong Jewish presence. The marks of Judaism are still very much preserved in the
village, even though the Jewish religion was practiced secretly throughout the years.
Robert Attal and Joseph Avivi. "Registres
Matrimoniaux de la Comminaute Juive
Portugaise de Tunis. XVIII-XIX Siecles"
(Matrimonial records of the Tunisian
Portuguese Jewsih Community 18th-19th
Centuries), Oriens Judaicus, Ben Zvi
Institute, Israel 1989 |
Listing of marriages that occurred in the Portuguese Jewish Community of Tunis which
kept itself separate from the local Tunisian Jews and kept careful records. French and
Hebrew editions are available.
Anita Novinsky. Inquisicao | Prisioneiros
do Brasil. Seculos XVI-XIX, (Inquisition
The author, Anita Novinsky, holds degrees in philosophy and history from the Univeristy of
Sao Paulo and is also affiliated with several foreign institutions and institutions in Europe
and the U.S. She published several books that have greatly contributed to a renewed
vision of the Inquisition in Brazil and Portugal. According to a survey completed in 1994 by
Professor Francisco Bethencourt (New University of Lisbon), the total number of accused
put on trial by the Inquisition amounted to 44,817. Of these, 9,726 were charged by the
Inquisition of Lisbon (the other courts were located in Evora, Coimbra and Goa). About half
of these prisoners, approximately five thousand, were in Brazil. In this work, which was a
meticulous and patient work of years, the author has identified 1,076 prisoners from Brazil,
including a wide range of details (place of birth, address, ethnic backgrounds, occupations,
crimes and sentences), giving this study high importance.
Francisco Manuel Alves (Abade de
Baçal). Memorias Arquelogico-Historicas
do Distrito de Bragança (Memoirs of the
Archaeological Historical District of
Bragança in Portugal),Bragança, 1925. |
Francisco Manuel Alves, better known as Abbot of Baçal (1865-1947 ) was a Portuguese
archaeologist , historian and genealogist. His principal work is the archaeologicalhistorical memories of the district of Bragança (1909-1947), in eleven volumes. The fifth
volume of his masterpiece is dedicated to the Jews.
Samuel Isaac Benchimol."Eretz
Amazonia. Os Judeus na Amazonia" (The
Jews of the Amazons), Manaus, 1998. |
Samuel Isaac Benchimol was born on July 13, 1923 in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. He was
a writer (with 110 published works), member of the Academia Amazonense de Letras),
professor (Emeritus at the Universidade do Amazonas, where he taught for over 50 years),
community leader (served as president of the Amazonas Jewish Community from 19751985) and businessman. His vast body of intellectual work includes books and articles. His
dedication to his community culminated with the publication of this work, “Eretz Amazônia”.
Professor Benchimol took it upon himself to visit every Jewish cemetery in the Amazon,
listing all the surnames. Later, tracking these surnames, he was able to determine which
were the Amazonian families of Jewish origin, extrapolating as in the case of the surname
Assayag, nowadays used by thousands of families, many of them assimilated and
converted to Christianity.
Pierre Pluchon. "Bordeaux, 1730 | List of
Families and Taxes paid by them" in
Negres et Juifs au XVIII Siecle (Blacks
& Jews in the 18th Century), Paris,
1984.
Pierre Pluchon held a diplomatic post in Haiti, which he used for his research. In this work,
the Portuguese Jews of Bordeaux are described by their distinct social and political circles.
Ugo Caffaz. Discrimination &
Persecution of the Jews in Fascist Italy,
Florence, 1988. |
Written by a Jewish sociologist in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the
promulgation of Mussolini's anti-semitic measures. These began with a manifesto on the
race prepared by Italian "scientists" on 14 July 1938 and continued with successive, ever
more draconian, edicts throughout the year. This work collects much of this legislation,
which expelled foreign Jews from Italian soil and deprived Italian Jews of their civil rights,
stripped them of party membership, expelled them from the armed forces, removed them
from their positions in government service (and, thus, from educational institutions), barred
students from the universities and the public schools, banned marriages between
Christians and Jews, forbade Christians from domestic employment in Jewish homes and
Jews from the ownership and management of large corporations, among other punitive
measures. One of the most valuable features of this book is its listing of every Jew expelled
from the education system, specifying university affiliation and discipline.
+ Sources 41 - 50 for Mendes
Rio de Janeiro's Chevra Kadisha (Jewish
Burial Society) lists, Rio de Janeiro,
august 1998. |
Sao Paulo Chevra Kadisha, List of people
buried, Sao Paulo 1997. |
The Chevra Kadisha (Jewish Burial Society) of Sao Paulo is a Society founded in
February 25, 1923, to care for the burial of the Jews of Sao Paulo (city and state). The
Society currently runs 4 Jewish cemeteries in Sao Paulo. The research was conducted in
three ways: reading the tombstones, a consulting the list of deaths until 24 September
1997, and from the society's records and books. The list of deaths, organized by Prof.
Solomon, has the name of the deceased, the grave location and the date of his burial. The
books are more detailed, with biographical data, which includes the city of origin, thus
enabling it to be confirmed as Sephardic. This is a formal record of one of the most
important Jewish communities in Latin America, showing how the country was very
attractive for Jews from different and distant locations.
Samuel de Paz. Commonaute Portugaise
de Tunisie (Portuguese Community of
Tunisia), manuscript, Jerusalem, 1932. |
Antonio Cravo. Judeus Portugueses no
Espaço Frances (Portuguese Jews in
France, in 18th century), in Brigantia, vol
XIIl, pp. 211-261, Portugal, jan/jun 1993. |
Story of the Portuguese New Christians from Bordeaux at the end of the 18th century. The
story focuses on the Pereira family who originated in Braganca and then moved to France.
Some of the notable descendants of this family were Jacob Rodrigues Pereira, the inventor
of the language for deaf-mutes, the Pereira bankers, and others.
Egon and Frieda Wolff. Biographical
Dictionary (II).Jews in Brazil. Century XIX,
Rio de Janeiro, 1987. |
Egon (1910-1981) and Frieda Wolff (1911-2009). The couple came off a ship in Santos, on
February, 12, 1936. They were newly-married and managed to arrive in Brazil after
escaping the Nazis, after both having graduated from the University of Berlin. They settled
in San Paulo, where they worked as merchants and achieved prosperity as opticians.
Later, they moved to Rio de Janeiro, still working in the same field and becoming very
active in the local Jewish Community. Mr. Egon became President of the Jewish Hospital.
In the 1960's, Mrs. Frieda Wolff said that "curiosity about Jewish immigration to Brazil and
the lack of satisfactory answers" required that something be done. The couple then
abandoned their other activities to dedicate themselves to their research. Tireless travelers,
they started at the National Library, went on to the National Archive, traveled all over
cemeteries, Jewish and gentile, throughout the country. They wrote down names, data and
genealogy. The couple interviewed hundreds of people, compared thousands of pages;
and discovered a number of precious items, like the Jewish tombstones in the city of
Vassouras, which became a Historical Monument of the XIX Century and is now a must for
tourists visiting the city. The quality of their work led the Brazilian Historical and
Geographical Institute to invite them to become members of that prestigious Institute. Their
books have undeniable historical value, especially their Seven Biographical Dictionaries.
Their "Jews in Brazil in the Nineteenth Century" is the second part of the seven.
List of soldiers killed in both World Wars
that were members of Bevis Marks
Synagogue, London. |
Bevis Marks is a Sephardi synagogue. believed to be the United Kingdom's oldest
synagogue opened in 1701. The earliest Jewish settlers in the United Kingdom were
Sephardi. They arrived in the 17th Century at the time of Cromwell and were refugees from
the Inquisition of The Roman Catholic Church.
Egon and Frieda Wolff. Quantos Judeus
Estiveram no Brasil Holandes e Outros
Ensaios,(How many Jews were in Dutch
Brazil and Other Essays), Rio de Janeiro,
1991. |
Intriguing work listing Dutch Jews from Brazil, by the ground-breaking and influential
scholars of Brazilian Jewry.
Babani and Weinfeld. Portugal Jewish
Encyclopedia, Castellana, Mexico, 1948. |
A Jewish Encyclopedia in 10 volumes: the Jewish people in the past and present - their
history, their religion, their customs, their literature, their art, their leaders, and more.
Luis Crespo Fabiao. Subsídios
para a História dos chamados
"judeus-portugueses" na
Indústria dos Diamantes em
Amsterdão nos séculos
XVII e XVIII,(Subsidies for the History of
the so-called "Portuguese-Jewish" in the
Diamond Industry in Amsterdam in the
seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries),Lisbon, 1973. |
The book focuses on the economic activities of the Jews of Amsterdam in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries
Liliana Picciotto Fargion.Il Libro Della
Memoria, Gli ebrei deportati dall'Italia
1943-1945 (The Book of Memory | Jews
Deported from Italy 1943-1945), Mursia,
1991.
This meticulously and painstakingly researched work reconstructs the deportation of Italian
Jewry to the German death camps. Out of a Jewish population that by 1943 had been
reduced by emigration to slightly over 40,000 (of whom 6,500 were foreigners), 6,746 were
deported from Italy proper, and another 1,820 from the Dodecanese, Italian possessions in
the Aegean. An additional 303 Jews were killed on Italian soil. Identities of at least 9001,100 other victims have not been established. This work lists in precise demographic
detail the names of the known deceased together with the date and place of each arrest,
initial place of incarceration, date of departure for Auschwitz, convoy number (forty-four
trains set out from Italy), date of debarkation at the camp (the journey took about five days),
and date of execution. For most, this was the same day as arrival. The cover photo of this
book shows two-year-old Fiorella Anticoli, seized with her entire family in the infamous
roundup of almost 1,300 Roman Jews on 16 October 1943. The arrests were carried out by
units of the S.S. specially trained for such "actions" and sent to the Italian capital for the
purpose. Working under the very walls of the Vatican, the operation had to be carried out
as efficiently and with as little tumult and commotion as possible.
+ Sources 51 - 60 for Mendes
Vibeke Sealtiel Olsen. List of poor Jews
who were removed from Amsterdam and
received financial assistance to go live in
other countries (1757- 1813), Website,
Amsterdam, 1999. |
This list organized by Olsen relates the names of Jews who received assistance from the
Dutch community to emigrate to other countries. The list covers the period 1759-1813 with
all the names of the poor Sephardic Jews who were granted Tzedaka(charity) - an amount
in Dutch florins- against the promise to leave Amsterdam and not to return within the next
15 years. Despite the image of wealth in this community, this was not the reality. The
author Crespo Fabiao, describes the local social pyramid: "On one occasion, during a
wedding celebration in the community, the combined wealth of 40 of the guests exceeded
40 million guilders ... By the late eighteenth century, more than half of 2,800 members of
the Sephardic-Jewish from the main Synagogue of Amsterdam received financial
assistance, and around 17,500 of the Ashkenazim Jews (from a total of 20,304) of that city,
were classified as homeless."
Gustavo Barroso. Historia Secreta do
Brasil,(The Secret History of Brazil), Rio
de Janeiro |
There are four volumes written by the lawyer, short story writer, essayist,novelist and
politician Forteza Gustavo Barroso (1888-1923). The author was a recognized Anti-Semite.
Lina Gorenstein Ferreira da Silva.
Hereticos e Impuros. A Inquisicao e os
Cristaos-Novos no Rio de Janeiro Seculo
XVIII (Heretics and Impure | The
Inquisition and the New Christians in Rio
de Janeiro, the eighteenth century),
Secretaria Municipal de Cultura, Rio de
Janeiro, 1995.
The author graduated in journalism from the University of São Paulo (1973) degree
in History from the University of São Paulo (1974), Master of Social History at the
University of São Paulo (1993) and PhD in Social History from the University of
São Paulo (1999) . and is currently a researcher and coordinator of documentationLEI: Laboratory for the Study of Intolerance, University of São Paulo.
Luis de Bivar Guerra(Publisher). Um
Caderno de Cristãos Novos de Barcelos
(a Notebook of New-Christians in
Barcelos), Lisbon, 1959. |
José Luis León de Bivar Sousa Pimentel Guerra (1904-1979), was a Portuguese
genealogist who researched the role of new Christians in Portuguese society and thus in
Brazil. This "A Notebook of New Christians in Barcelos" by an anonymous author is a list
of converted Jews in that city in 1497, and some of their descendants. It reports the
prominent families in Barcelos (Portugal) with Jewish ancestry.
Cap. Artur Carlos de Barros Basto
(editor). HaLapid (official organ of the
Obra do Resgate), Porto, dec. 20-50. |
Magazine edited by the "Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue" congregation, in the city of
Porto. This was founded by Crypto-Jews who returned to the Jewish religion during a
movement called "the Work of Rescue" which was undertaken by Captain Barros Basto in
the 1930's among various communities of Jewish descent.
Yosef Kaplan (editor). Jews and
Conversos, Studies in Society and the
Inquisition, in The Hebrew University
Magnes Press, Jerusalem, 1985 |
This collection of articles sheds lights on the social, economic and cultural life of Spanish
and Portuguese Jewry in the Middle Ages, while stressing at the same time the unique role
of the conversos in the history of the Iberian Peninsula and its Jewish community.
List of Members and Rabbis of the
Congregation "Kahal Kadosh Neveh
Shalom", founded in 1704, Website,
Jamaica. |
Neveh Shalom - Dwelling Place of Peace - was one of the first synagogues built in
Spanish Town, Jamaica during the 17th century. The Neveh Shalom Institute is chartered
to promote projects to preserve the history, culture, and artifacts of the Jewish existence in,
and contribution to Jamaica, from the 17th century.
Ketuboth van de Portugees-Israelietische
Gemeente te Amsterdam van 1650-1911
(Index of Ketuboth of the Portuguese
Jewish Congregation in Amsterdam from
1650 and 1911). D. Verdooner and
H.J.W.Snel. |
The Portuguese Jewish Community in Amsterdam was formed by Marranos who returned
to Judaism after they had been converted to Catholicism in 1492 (Spain) and 1497
(Portugal). Families who lived in Toledo before 1492 reappear in Amsterdam in the 17th
century, showing that for five generations (120 years) they succeeded in maintaining some
form of Judaism behind the Catholic image. In the Amsterdam Municipality between 1598
and 1811 about 15,000 marriage certificates of Jews were registered. This Index mainly
pertains to the richer and influential Sephardic community of Amsterdam. The great
merchants, ship owners, rabbis and philosophers (Spinoza, Menasse ben Israel, Isaac
Aboab da Fonseca) all appear on it. There are also families from other Sephardic
communities from Livorno and Tunis. Many times weddings represented the creation and
maintenance of commercial alliances.
Luiz de Bivar Guerra. Inventory of the
proceedings of the Inquisition of
Coimbra(1541-1820), Lisbon, 1972. |
Coimbra was the seat of an inquisitional tribunal, one of the four operating in Portuguese
territory, besides Lisbon, Évora, and Goa. The tribunal in Coimbra, which tried many
distinguished Conversos, disposed of more than 11,000 cases between 1541 and 1820.
The trials sometimes lasted for months or even years, during which the accused were held
in prison. The accused came in great numbers from Bragança, Braga, Porto, Viseu, Aveiro,
Guarda, and Coimbra. From the sermons preached at the auto-da-fé we learn that mothers
and grandmothers were held responsible for maintaining Jewish practices and beliefs
among the Conversos. Thus, during the first century of its existence, more women than
men were tried by the Inquisition of Coimbra. The hardest hit were those who lived in
distant and mountainous areas. As late as June 17, 1718, over 60 secret Jews appeared at
an auto-da-fé there, some for a fifth or sixth time. Two were burned at the stake and the rest
penanced.
Diva Masur. Jewish Cemetery of Recife,
Recife, Portugal. |
The first Jewish cemetery in Recife, "Cemiterio Israelita do Barro", was inaugurated in
June 1926. Prior to that, the Jews of Recife were buried in a non-Jewish cemetery. Their
remains were later transferred to the Jewish cemetery.
+ Sources 61 - 70 for Mendes
Gary Mokotoff. Avotaynu. |
Gary Mokotoff is a noted author, lecturer and leader of Jewish genealogy. He has been
recognized by three major genealogical groups for his achievements. Avotaynu, The
International Review of Jewish Genealogy, was founded in 1985 as a 20-page
semiannual; it has grown to 68-page quarterly that is one of the most respected magazines
in genealogy. The Avotaynu Consolidated Jewish Surname Index (CJSI) enables search
by surname on 42 different databases.
Michael Molho. Marrano Graves in
Salonica. |
A diverse Jewish presence in the city preceded the arrival of refugees fleeing Spain and
Portugal in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. A native Jewish community (the
Romaniots) had lived there since early Roman rule, when Salonica was the pre-eminent
metropolis between the Adriatic and Black Sea. Under Byzantine rule, the city absorbed
Jews from Hungary and Provence, with each individual creating his or her own community
and maintaining an individual language, liturgy and culture. Thousands of Sicilian and
Venetian Jews settled in the city when it was sold to Venice in the early 15th century, just
before it came — for the second and final time — under the rule of the
expanding and increasingly powerful Ottoman Empire. It was under this rule that the ethnic
composition of Salonican Jewry came to assume the form it would take for the next five
centuries, since roughly 20,000 Jews of Spanish and Portuguese descent flooded the port
city between 1493 and 1536.
Mathilde Tagger. Familles sefarades |
histoires et genealogies (Sephardic
families
List of books located in The Jewish National University Library and the Library of the BenZvi Institute in Jerusalem, by Mathilde Tagger that are a source for researching Sephardic
families, history and genealogy.
Neusa Fernandes. A Inquisicao em Minas
Gerais no sec. XVIII (Inquisition in Minas
Gerais in the 18th Century), Rio de
Janeiro, 2000. |
Manuel Ramos de Oliveira. Os Cristaosnovos nos Distritos da Guarda e Castelo
Branco,(New Christians in the districts of
Guarda and Castelo Branca), em Beira
Alta, vol. X, fasc. I-II, Portugal, 1951. |
Pedro de Azevedo, "Cristaos-novos de
Lisboa que estavam ausentes da cidade
em 1614" (Crypto-Jews from Lisbon who
were absent from the city in 1614)
Lisbon, 1915. |
The author worked on the trial records deposited in the Torre do Tombo in Lisbon and
published his findings.
Maria Jose Pimenta Ferro Tavares. Os
judeus em Portugal no seculo XIV (The
Jews in Portugal in the 14th century),
Lisboa, 1979. |
This study includes a name and place index.
Antonio de Portugal de Faria. A
Inquisicao Portuguesa no seculo XVII
(The Portuguese Inquisition in the 17th
Century), in O Instituto n° XVII, pp.
751-760, Coimbra, 1899. |
The Portuguese Inquisition formally started in Portugal in 1536 at the request of the King of
Portugal, João III although in many places in Portugal it actually started in 1497
when the authorities expelled many Jews and forcefully converted many others to
Catholicism. The Portuguese Inquisition held its first "auto da fé" in Portugal in
1540. It concentrated its efforts on rooting out converts from other faiths (overwhelmingly
Judaism) who did not adhere to the strictures of Catholic orthodoxy; the Portuguese
inquisitors mostly targeted the Jewish "New Christians," or "Marranos". The 17th Century
brought with it a new wave of anti-semitism in Portugal. Between 1612 and 1630 the
Inquisition in Lisbon, Coimbra and Evora held no less than 47 large autos-da-fe.
J. Mendes dos Remedios, "Os Judeus
Portugueses em Amsterdam" (The
Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam), 1911,
Coimbra |
A compilation of Judeo-Portuguese texts published in Amsterdam can be found in this
book and can now be downloaded.
http://www.archive.org/details/osjudeusportugue00mend
Jose Olivio Mendes Rocha. Subsídios
para o estudo das Gentes de Nação
(Cristãos-novos) nos Açores na 1ª
metade do seculo XVII,(Grants for the
Studies of New Christians in the Azores
in the First Half of the Seventeenth
Cerntury), published in Boletim do
Instituto Historico da Ilha Terceira,
Portugal, 1987 |
+ Sources 71 - 80 for Mendes
Adriano Vasco Rodrigues. Judeus e
Inquisição na Guarda,(Jews and The
Inquisition in Guard, Portugal),published
in the journal "Altitude", Porto, 1980. |
Adriano Vasco Rodrigues is himself a historian and ethnographer from the Guard region in
Portugal.
Anita Novinsky. Inquisicao. Rol dos
Culpados. Fontes para a Historia do
Brasil (Sources for the History of Brazil -
18th Century),published in "Expression
and Culture", Rio de Janeiro, 1992. |
Contains a list of Brazilian and Portuguese New-Christians in Brazil (1819 names - 721
women and 1098 men) who were prosecuted or persecuted by the courts of the Inquisition,
during the eighteenth century, as located by the author in deposits from the National
Archives of Torre do Tombo in Lisbon. This book is a most important source of NewChristians names (Marrano names), mainly of those who remained in Portugal or
throughout the Portuguese empire.
Mario Javier Saban, "Judios Conversos |
Los Antepasados Judios de las Familias
Tradicionales Argentinas ",(Jewish
Converts
Portuguese of Jewish descent entered Argentina as early as 1580. Non-Catholics endured
religious persecution until about 1813, when the Inquisition was officially abolished. This
book traces the immigration of converted Jews from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It
contains over one hundred pages of genealogies.
W.S. Samuel. In Jewish Historical Society
of England. Transactions. Sessions 19681969, vol. XXII & Miscellanies Part.
VII, University College, London, 1970. |
This collection includes a list of Jewish Persons endenizened and naturalised in England
in the period 1609-1799.
Samuel Benchimol. Judeus no Ciclo da
Borracha,(Jews in the Rubber Age),
Manaus, 1994. |
Professor Samuel Benchimol estimates that between 1810 and 1850, before the rubber
boom, about 300 Sephardic Jewish families emigrated to the Amazons, and between 1851
and 1910, another 700 arrived. At first, these immigrants found their way to the small towns
of the interior of Pará and Amazonas, as Cameta, Almeirim, Obidos, Santarem,
Itaituba, Itacoatiara, Tefé, Humaita, Porto Velho, and Belém where they
found employment in offices and shops,or trading activities. Later, in the heyday of the
boom, they began to advance economically as tenants and owners of rubber plantations in
the interior, or as buyers of local products, in the streets of Bethlehem and Manaus. This
Jewish immigration of the 19th century did not have the privelege of an organized Jewish
community in Manaus and other cities. Only after the rubber boom receded was a strong
Jewish Community established in the state capital.
Mario Cohen (editor).1992 | El
Descubrimiento de la Cultura Sefaradi, in
Sefardica (Discovery of Sephardic
Culture) n. 9, Buenos Aires, August 1992.
Mario Cohen is Director of the Sephardic Culture Research and Dissemination Center in
Buenos Aires.
Malcolm H. Stern. First American Jewish
Families. 600 Genealogies. 1654-1988,
Ottenheimer Editors, Inc., 1991. |
When it first appeared in 1960, Malcolm Stern's Americans of Jewish Descent marked a
milestone in the study of American Jewish genealogy. Researchers now have access to
the complete text of Rabbi Stern's monumental volume that was published in 1991 as the
updated and revised 3rd edition entitled: First American Jewish Families: 600
Genealogies, 1654-1988.
Dr. Albert de Vidas (editor). Erensia
Sefardi, Fairfield, CT, USA. |
This newsletter which is now online reports on a variety of topics related to the Sephardic
world.
Isabel Monteiro. Os judeus na regiao de
Viseu (The Jews in the region of Viseu),
Viseu, 1997. |
Rufina Bernardetti Silva Mausenbaum has extracted names of Jewish women, Jewish
family names and names of New Christians in the 16th century in Viseu from this work by
Isabel Monteiro.
Victims of the Holocaust (CD); The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day
Saints, 1997. |
Contains the records of victims of the Holocaust, 1939-1945.
+ Sources 81 - 90 for Mendes
Yeshivah Rosh Pinah do Porto, in
"Marranos in Portugal by the Portuguese
Marrano Committee, 1926 to 1938",
London, 1938. |
Between 1925 and 1938 an attempt was made to assist the Anusim or secret Jews of
Portugal to return to Judaism after Samuel Schwarz, the Polish Jewish mining engineer
who had discovered the secret Jewish community in Belmonte, published a book on this
subject.In 1929 a boys' boarding school named Rosh Pinah was founded in Oporto to
teach Judaism to youngsters from crypto-Jewish families.
The Ghost of Hannah Mendes |
When Catherine da Costa, a wealthy Manhattan matron, learns she has only a short time to
live, she realizes that her family tree will die unless she passes on its legacy and traditions
to her granddaughters. But Suzanne and Francesca, beautiful young women caught up in
trendy causes and ambitious careers, have no interest in the past. Catherine almost
despairs until one night she is visited by the ghost of her family's anscestor, an indomitable
Renaissance businesswoman named Hannah Mandes. The ghost of Hannah Mendes
encourages Catherine to use every trick in the book to coerce the granddaughters to
journey across Europe and acquaint themselves with their roots. While the sisters honor
their grandmother's request out of loyalty, they believe their quest is futile--until it starts to
uncover ancient pages from Hannah Mendes's fascinating memoir, and brings new loves
into their lives.
Sephardic Family Trees found in Jewish
Encyclopedias by Mathilde Tagger |
Family trees found in The Jewish Encyclopedia (NY 1901-1904) or Encyclopaedia Judaica
(Jerusalem, 1972)
The Inquisitors and the Jews in the New
World, by Seymour B. Liebman. Reports
the names of people who appeared
before the inquisition in the New Spain |
Except for a brief introduction, the entire book is a listing of Inquisition Records in the New
World. This is a source for converso names in the New World.
The Inquisitors and the Jews in the New
World, by Seymour B. Liebman.Reports
the names of people who appeared
before the inquisition in New Granada |
Except for a brief introduction, the entire book is a listing of Inquisition Records in the New
World. This is a source for converso names in the New World.
The Inquisitors and the Jews in the New
World, by Seymour B. Liebman. Reports
the names of people who appeared
before the inquisition in El Peru. |
Except for a brief introduction, the entire book is a listing of Inquisition Records in the New
World. This is a source for converso names in the New World.
The Jews of New Spain, by Seymour B.
Liebman |
Professor Liebman endeavors to discover why, beginning in 1521, Jews migrated from Old
Spain to New Spain. He then proceeds to document the persistence of Jewish life in the
face of a new Spanish Inquisition and formalized suppression including forced conversion
and exclusion from citizenship. The author concludes it was the religious, cultural and
personal vitality of Jews that caused their cherished and proud identity to persist, even
though most of the earliest Jewish migrants eventually did assimilate into Mexican society.
From the publication, "Los
Sefardíes" (The Sephardim),by
Jose M. Estrugo. Published by Editorial
Lex La Habana, 1958.(Surnames common
among the Sephardim) |
When the Romans conquered the Jewish nation in 70 CE, much of the Jewish population
was sent into exile throughout the Roman Empire. Many were sent to the Iberian
peninsula. The area became known by the Hebrew word "Sepharad". The JEWS in SPAIN
and PORTUGAL became known as "Sephardim" or and those things associated with the
SEPHARDIM including names, customs, genealogy and religious rituals, became known
as SEPHARDIC.
From the PhD Dissertation of Michelle M.
Terrill, "The Historical Archaeology of the
17th and 18th-Century Jewish
Community of Nevis, British West
Indies", Boston University, 2000 |
This is an historical archaeological examination of a 17th- and 18th-century Jewish
community on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies. Unlike earlier archaeological
studies of the Jewish Caribbean Diaspora that focused on single sites, the focus of this
investigation was on increasing the understanding of the roles and lives of the Sephardim
in the colonial Caribbean. The study of the Neevis community indicates that the Jews of
the Caribbean were not fully integrated socially or politically into British colonial society.
History of the Sephardic Israelite
Community in Chile by Moshe Nes-El.
Editorial Nascimiento, Chile, 1984. |
Most Jews arrived in Chile between 1934–1946, half being from Eastern Europe, 40
percent from Germany, and 10 percent were Sephardic Jews. Many Chilean Jews fled
Chile in 1970 after the election of socialist Salvador Allende Gossens as president.
+ Sources 91 - 92 for Mendes
Judios Conversos (Jewish Converts) by
Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires,
1990. The ancestors of the Argentinian
Jewish families. "Portuguese"(Jews) of
Santiago del Estero. |
This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and
Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of
the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later
converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of
Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.
The Abarbanel Foundation Website,
"Reintegrating the Lost Jews of Spain &
Portugal" |
List of names of forcibly converted Jews who were tried by the Spanish Inquisition for
practicing Judaism in Mexico in the years 1528 - 1815
Distinguished Jewish bearers of the Mendes name and its variants include : • Mendes (or
Méndez or Mendezia or Nasi), Gracia (alias Beatriz de Luna) (1510-1568). She was known
also as Gracia Nasí. She was a very rich and powerful woman, descended from a family
who fled from Spain to Portugal persecuted by the Inquisition. • Henry (Haim) Pereira
Mendes,rabbi (1852-1937), England-USA. • Fernando Mendes (d.1724), Crypt-Jewish
physician in English Court. • Abraham Pereira Mendes, English rabbi and educationist;
born in Kingston, Jamaica, Feb. 9, 1825; died in New York April 18, 1893
Around the 12th century, surnames started to become common in Iberia. In Spain, where
Arab-Jewish influence was significant, these new names retained their old original
structure, so that many of the Jewish surnames were of Hebrew derivation. Others were
directly related to geographical locations and were acquired due to the forced wanderings
caused by exile and persecution. Other family names were a result of conversion, when the
family accepted the name of their Christian sponsor. In many cases, the Portuguese Jews
bear surnames of pure Iberian/Christian origin. Many names have been changed in the
course of migration from country to country. In yet other cases "aliases", or totally new
names, were adopted due to fear of persecution by the Inquisition.
Here are some locations where registries of Sephardic or Christianized Jewish families
with this surname have been traced:
Bayonne, France Bordeaux, France Holland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Recife, Brasil Sao
Paulo, Brasil Algarve, Portugal Alter do Chao, Portugal Amazonas, Brazil Amsterdam,
Netherlands Angra do Heroismo, Portugal Azores, Portugal Bahia, Brasil Barbados,
Belem, portugal Braganca, Portugal Brazil, Buenos Aires, Argentina Castela, Castelo
Branco, Portugal Cedovim, Portugal Coimbra, Portugal Covilha, Portugal Curacao,
Curralinho, Brasil Dominican Republic, Dutch Brazil, Brasil Elvas, Portugal Evora,
Portugal Faial, Portugal Faro, Portugal Ferrara, Italy Fozcoa, Portugal France, Freixo de
Espada-a-Cinta, Portugal Funchal, Portugal Fundao, Portugal Guarda, Hamburg, Germany
Horta, Portugal Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal Ilha Terceira, Portugal Israel, Istanbul, Turkey
Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica Lisbon, Portugal Livorno (Leghorn), Italy London, England
Loule, Portugal Mariana, Brasil Minas Gerais, Brasil Monforte, Portugal Montemor-o-Novo,
Portugal Moura, Portugal Oliveira dos Azemeis, Portugal Ouro Preto, Brasil Parintins,
Brasil Penamacor, Portugal Pinhel, Portugal Pisa, Italy Porto, Portugal Porto Alegre, Brasil
Redondo, Portugal Ribeira Grande, Portugal Ribeirao do Carmo, Brasil Rio das Mortes,
Brasil Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Rome, Italy Sahara, Algeria Saloniki, Greece Sao Miguel,
Portugal Serpa, Portugal Serro Frio, Brasil Sousel, Portugal Spanishtown, Jamaica Tomar,
Portugal Torino, Italy Tunisia, Turkey, Vila Franca, Portugal Vila Real, Portugal Vilarinho
dos Galegos, Portugal Vinhais, Portugal Viseu, Portugal
Some interesting facts about the name this name are :
• Mendes is mentioned 66 times in the Book of Guilties. The name Mendes has various
origins and also comes from the patronymic name Mendo. • Mendes is one of the oldest
Sephardic families. It continued in Spain and in Spanish possessions long after 1492, the
year of the general expulsion. • The name Mendes appears in the records of the
Inquisitions of Lisbon, Evora and Coimbra. • Mendes is a very common name among New
Christians. • The name Mendes has various origins and also comes from the patronymic
name Mendo. • By the mid-1500s the Mendes family of Antwerp (former conversos from
Portugal) controlled the major portion of the pepper and spice trade in northern Europe. •
The earliest Mendes tombstone now in existence in Bayonne is that of Rodrigues Mendes
(1637).
Some common variations of Mendes are Mendez and Mendix.
The following websites are relevant to the surname Mendes:
•http://www.brasilsefarad.com/joomla/images/stories/Biblioteca/mitosobrenomes.pdf
•http://www.saudades.org/Woman_influence.htm
•http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=455&letter=M
•http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=448&letter=M&search=Mendes
•http://www.sephardicstudies.org/pdf/m1.pdf
•http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10667-mendes
•http://www.houseofnames.com/mendes-family-crest